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The double-whammy success of Barbie and Oppenheimer – released on the same day July 21 – has propelled the UK box office to a height not seen since December 2019.
The Guardian newspaper reports that cinema admissions for July have reached more than 17.6million, with predictions of figures reaching 13.5million for August.
Between them, the films have taken more than £130m ($163.5m) in ticket sales, with Barbie accruing more than £86m ($108m). This makes it the biggest film of 2023 so far, overtaking Tom Cruise’s Top Gun sequel Maverick. Oppenheimer has taken more than £51m ($64m).
The Guardian reports these admission figures, at around 49.m for May to August, are up 8% on last year’s summer tally, while box office takings are up 12% for the same period.
With Barbie, Greta Gerwig has become the highest-grossing female director of a live action movie at the worldwide box office ($1.3billion). In its first 17 days of release, the film became the first live-action directed by a woman to join the billion dollar box office club. It now has Frozen II ($1.43bn) in its sights.
The film was produced by Margot Robbie, who also stars in the film, alongside Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Emma Mackey and Michael Cera.
The soundtrack album has also broken records in the UK. It debuted at number one on the official music chart and had six songs enter the top 40 official singles chart. It became the first soundtrack album to have three songs simultaneously reside in the top five.